"He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle bustle of the crowds and the traffic. To him, New York meant beautiful women and street-smart guys who seemed to know all the angles..." - Woody Allen

The first stop was at this old school
bakery!

Today was a pretty great day. However, it started pretty early. My body isn't used to not waking up at 7:30 to get to work, so even though I set my alarm for 8:15... I still woke up around 7:30. And lied there. Doing nothing. Actually, that's not true, I did think about how this is what my life has come to. Waking up at 7:30 am every day.

I got up, had some breakfast and then headed down to where I needed to meet everyone for the tours. As I was walking, it was a beautiful day out and I was excited go on and about my down. I needed to be a bit down on 6th street so I stayed on 6th and kept walking. After a little while, about 20 minutes of walking, I looked up.

These are vault lights that used to light
up the basements before there was
electricity

I was on 5th. Apparently I had been walking down 5th for a while and had no idea how I even got there. HOW DOES THIS EVEN 

HAPPEN. I was walking down 6th! And I didn't even take any turns!

How cool is the graffiti here? Some
businesses actually love having this
graffiti on their wall because it amps
up their business and gives them street cred

Well I finally got to where I needed to meet in the park, Spring St. and 6th Ave and there was already a crowd there. Fortunately, the tour guide wasn't there. Unfortunately, neither were my friends. But when they did get there, I ended up accidentally turning just me into 5 extra people. Whoops. But I mean, better publicity right? 

Our tour guide, Jon, started off by giving us a bit of the history of New York, including the dutch originally owning it, the British taking it, etc. It was all interesting history. One of the newer things that I learned was that SoHo actually means south of Houston, NoHo is North of Houston! They do this to a lot of things! Like

It's actually a diagram
of the MTA done well
only problem is that it's
facing the wrong way

Tribeca is actually triangle below Canal street. How cool is that (I am kind of sad that these small things are mostly what I remember haha)?

As we walked through the neighbourhoods, I realized that this was the first time I had actually had friends on the tour with me. It was quite nice actually having someone to go up to and make little comments or gush or enjoy, or just in general whatever with. And when I had more or extra information, I could still talk to others and tell them all about it. It was actually quite nice to have the company. 

As we walked through, some of our first stops included the apartments and art galleries of the area. SoHo was originally a very industrial part of town, which is why so many places have such high ceilings - they were all factories. Quite

a few of the factories actually are now art galleries or apartments (Insanely expensive apartments, you do not want one here). 

Made of solid iron. And they have to
have railings that are updated cosntantly

We dropped by a bakery, called Vesuvio Bakery. It was a very old-school bakery with a very vintage exterior. There were lots of people inside and the cookies that were freshly baked outside looked delicious as well. This is one of the oldest bakeries in New York with old rare coal ovens. They began producing Italian bread and biscuits in 1920. Unfortunately, it is now a law that people are not allowed to bake using coal ovens anymore. There is now a new owner of the store, and it was agreed that they would only allow the new owners have the store if they kept the window front.

We also saw that they had a "green B" sign. So I found out that the New York city health board gives out letters to restaurants. As I was told, green B's are "okay" but not somewhere where you should eat. "Blue As" are where you really want to eat. And you'll always know when and what the status of the restaurants are because everyone must legally put the signs out on their windows or at least

This picture does no justice to how
beautiful the stone carvings are.

somewhere that is visible. And it MUST be visible. 

We kept walking down the street and actually found some really cool street artwork, and it was real legit artwork. It was a kind of map of the New York MTA map on the floor. It was pretty cool. There were also a bunch of glass almost "bulbs" on the floor, called vault lights so that people who lived in the basement would have natural light. Pretty cool eh? I found out that they are also in parts of Europe as well.

The original police headquarters but it
is now apartments (expensive ones)

Many of the sidewalks in New York are hollow. Scathing past flung open hatch doors on a crowded sidewalk, to avoid falling down into kitchen areas and storage basements, is a common obstacle for New Yorkers. In many of the older buildings the basements extend beyond the building’s footprint- opening up to a “vault” space under the sidewalk. As urban industry grew, the sidewalk shape morphed to adapt to the needs of the urban streetscape. In 1845, Thaddeus Hyatt patented “vault lights”, fitted clear glass lenses set within cast-iron panels embedded into the sidewalk surface in front of building storefronts (source).

While walking through, we stopped to look at the streets in front of us. They were made of pure cast iron. So a lot of them, if you bring a magnet, will stick right to the building! They stopped making the

Apparently an AMAZING dessert place
with some really awesome quotes outside

buildings out of wood because they were on fire and brick was just too expensive. On top of that, I also found out that every residential building actually needs to have a fire escape (you know, because of the fires and stuff). It is actually illegal not to have a fire escape in front of a residential building unless the building is commercial or it has been grandfathered in. Cool facts.

Afterwards, we kept walking down the street and found this building with this beautiful hand carved stone roofs. It was gorgeous. The only problem was that people had graffitied the sides of the building and actually made it look kind of ugly. It was horrendous just because it was just such a nice building that people worked for years on. It was interesting hearing about the reason why there are so many high rises. People would buy their land

Difference between
park and playgrounds

and build right to the edge of the lot (which I explained before happens because they wanted as much plot land as possible. That's why they have the grates outside and in front of the stores, so that they could get shipping and other stuff into the building [they had no alleyways and very little backyard]). 

Cute pixel art everywhere

The reason why was that "people don't get charged for building up." So people would buy the land, build a commercial store and then build apartments up so that they could rent it out and make more money. There is, however, one building on Wall Street that is very low, owned by a very rich man, JP Morgan. Now people asked him why he didn't build up and have apartments and in his humble way, he said that "he didn't need the money." #LifeGoals. 

We ended up walking into Little Italy afterwards and checked out all the graffiti in the area. We first passed by a nice playground with only kids. I found out that

Forgot to take a picture
of the sign but the fire
hydrant was pretty baller

in New York, it is actually illegal to be in a public playground without any kids. So if I wanted to buy some food and go to the playground, I wouldn't be allowed to sit because I wouldn't have any kids with me. Interesting.

We walked by the original police station which was in SoHo and we were told about how there used to be a hardcore rivalry between the Irish Catholics who were chosen to be police officers and the Protestant English... So they made their own police office. It was cool.  

Around that area, we also found the apartment that Heath Ledger passed away...It was interesting because I looked up at the building and saw a bunch of acorns and oak leaves (Throwback to another blog post where I talked to you about Vanderbilt and his rowboat turning into his big huge corporation).

Lombardi's original pizza. It was
packed when we went at 3pm.

We headed over to Little Italy, which I found out was actually devastated by the 9/11 plane crashed.

Because the area depended so much on tourism, it greatly diminished and is now only a few roads. Chinatown has really encroached on it now because it isn't dependent on tourists, rather it is dependent on mostly on other Chinese and Asian populations. So Chinatown did really well.

We started out with looking at Lombardi's Pizza, which is the BEST pizza place in all of New York. It was actually the original pizza place in all of the USA. It was originally comfort food and in Italy, they only really ate it as peasant food. They also don't make any pizza slices, they will sell only as a pie, so go hungry or go with friends. Joe's pizza, the other popular

Ferrara's dessert

place, was trained by Lombardi's. After a meal at Lombardi's, you can head over to Ferrara's bakery where they have the BEST (as I was told) Italian baked goods. 

Around the city, there's some really cool pixel art all around. Afterwards, we

kept walking down the street, found the Mulberry street bar and found out that THAT was where Frank Sinatra used to play! It's still very old school with the original interiors. It was beautiful. 

Where Sinatra used to
play, also legit angry
Italian ladies will yell 

I found out that Chinatown and Little Italy were actually originally a German area. Very German. The tour guide explained that immigrants would come to America, try to make their lives better and then move on. So the area changed hands. To show us a bit of what was leftover, we were shown this Catholic church

(from the German era) that was now Chinese and had sermons in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. How cool is that?

Got these bad boys
for $2. 

Afterwards, he suggested two of the best restaurants to eat Chinese food. The first was Hop Kee and Wo Hop which are both on Mott street. For one of them, you should go downstairs instead of upstairs because it's cheaper downstairs and it's mainly for the locals. On top of that, we went down another street that lead to the main park where I found a store that sold 5 dumplings for 1.25. How well priced is that?! 

The German chuch in Chinatown

We walked through the park, where people were playing majong, chess and gambling. Police don't care about it because it's petty crime but it was pretty cool to see. We ended off the tour and our group of people split off, since some

of us wanted to go to the market and others wanted to go back to Lombardi's pizza. The girls and I headed over back to the dumpling place where I asked for 5 dumplings, gave them $2, got 8 dumplings, no change and yelled at frantically in mandarin. Protip. Always have exact change.

We headed over to the Essex street market afterwards where they were having a big block party with food outside in the front of the market. It was actually quite nice

Inside the market! And there was a
block party outside

and reminded me of St. lawrence market in Toronto. It was quite nice and big. We ended up getting some food there, I grabbed some arancini balls, one with pesto, pizza and nutella, found a place by the Williamsburg bridge to sit down and enjoyed our meal. 

Gotta say - it was pretty delicious. They were freshly fried and still

hot. We sat down there for a whileand just people watched. 

Arancini balls in a cool egg carton

Afterwards, we headed back to SoHo and we went window shopping. It was interesting seeing so many things that I could not afford. Like damn. We went into a few stores called "Second Time Again" where I got to find out how poorly educated I am on the ways of fashion and brand names. I found out I am indeed very bad at it. There were clothes there which were literally thousands of dollars. Like more than my rent for a month. I didn't cry but I hurt just looked at them. AND THEY WERE USED TOO. Apparently some of those clothes were also clothes that models and movie stars had worn before. 

When we were finished window shopping, we left the area and two of us ended up going to the BEST grocery store ever. We discovered TRADER JOE'S.

Now. Imagine the best ever grocery stores, reasonable prices (not so low that you question the quality) with delicious hipster whole food quality produce and goods. And free samples.

The block party

This is Trader Joe's. I love it. Oh my god, I grabbed so many delicious things, such as a spinach and kale (I hate kale but I loved this) greek yogurt dip, some corn chips, dark chocolate and peanut butter cups, frozen orange chicken, GERMAN WURST (produced in Germany), pork dumplings, gah, JUST SO MANY THINGS, I BOUGHT SO MANY THINGS, ONLY FOOD. AND MY BILL CAME OUT TO LESS THAN $40. IN NEW YORK. LIKE HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN ANYWHERE?! 

My dinner, appies and dessert

Yes I am freaking out but i don't feel too giulty about it because it's totally worth it. Guys, Trade Joe's did not pay me to say all this. I just feel this way. I just know that it is amazing. Even though it's kind

of far from my place, I will go and do my groceries there EVERY WEEK so that I can buy as many fresh and delicious groceries as possible. Seriously. It was amazing.

Afterwards, I headed back home and just relaxed, watched some Malcolm in the Middle and vegeated. Had some leftover chicken for dinner, some chips n' dip and some peanut butter cups for dessert.

Worth it. Good day. 

Group photos!

“I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world's greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.” - Nora Ephron, Heartburn

FRIDAY - Webster's dictionary states that this is the best day of the week, full of promise, full of hope and the start of the weekend (that's a lie, don't quote me, I don't know what Webster's says). 

I started it off as I usually do, walking over to work in the throng of well-dressed, slick and clean-cut people. I really do love walking to work as much as I hate getting out of bed. It's always so amazing to see the determination (or dread, can never tell which one) in people's eyes as they walk straight through the red lights and into oncoming traffic (Really, this one is no lie). Or even seeing the annoyance and perseverance on people's faces as they try to hail a cab or navigate through the moving maze of bodies.

People's natures and humanity are almost like poems come to life. It's interesting to see. People are still friendly and polite though. I still have my bad habit (that I picked up as a hostess) of smiling at people whenever we make eye contact and every single time, someone would always smile back at me - even if it's nervously or tensely, they did it. 

It's really the city I kind of want to live in. People definitely live in their own lives with a one track mind kind of thing going on but even with that sense of purpose, they'll still take the time to smile. 

I hope one day I can find my proper purpose in life like the people here but still be down to earth about it and be able to take the time to smile. Although one thing that I have noticed, because there seems to be such a steadfast culture and atmosphere, I feel like people miss out on a lot. They don't take the time to look around and absorb the beauty that is around them, whether it's the weather, the trees, the fashion or the other people around them. I rarely ever see a New Yorker looking around (that's one tip on how to search out the tourist and the New Yorker. I've luckily found that balance so that tour guide people don't look at me but I can still take in the city). I've noticed such small things, like owls (that are meant to keep away pidgeons) and carvings of acorns and oaks (as mentoined in a previous post). 

Anyway, you guys didn't come to my blog to read about my reflections and thoughts, right? Just the nitty gritty of what an average UN intern's life is, so I'll try to keep on track.

When I got to work, I worked a bit on my long term project, which involves synthesizing and summarizing material and documents (some of them of the "utmost confidentiality"). 

At lunch, I went out with two of my friends to the nearby market that was on 41st between Lexington and 3rd. 

The market!

Wow, you could really see the smoke coming off of those BBQs and smell the delicious scent of roasted meat and corn on the cob. It was just amazing to see, there were so many people, so many foods and the line ups were up the street. There was rolls of italian sausage, gyros, Carribean rum cake (oh my god, so delicious please give me more always, all the time), phone accessories, corn, vegan pasteries... pretty much anything and everything you could want. It was amazing. I loved just walking through and seeing everything that was there. And people were so welcoming and nice. I would ask them where they got their food or sometimes join into their conversations and people were 100% okay with it. Sometimes they even laughed at my comments and conversation even though I wasn't invited into them (I need to stop it, I feel creepy sometimes). 

My lunch came in a ridiculously
cute box

I ended up buying a Shawarma/roasted chicken/falafel wrap. It was delicious and amazing. I just talked to the girl as I talk to everyone, open up with whether or not they were busy and I think in general, everyone welcomes someone who wants to talk to them. Especially when they're working at a service job where they may be bored or tired of just asking "what would you like in this." She was really nice and when I had originally asked for shawarma (since it was one of the options), she actually asked me if I wanted a little bit of everything - and that's what I got. 

We were all so hungry so we all headed out to the park nearby, sat down and ate together. We actually ran into a few of my Brazilian friends, including the one I met yesterday and sat with them.

I found out the friend I met yesterday is LEAVING ON TUESDAY. I was so sad and heartbroken. When I told my friend about this, she told me that such is the way of the UN, people constantly come and go. They leave. I was heartbroken because we were getting along so well... and then he had to leave.  It makes me sad because it makes it hard to form really strong friendships (not saying that long distance doesn't work but it is a lot easier to be friends with someone when you can see each other and talk to each other face to face on a regular basis). 

After my heartbreak at lunch, I headed back to work and worked a bit on my project. One of my co-workers at the office actually pulled me out and told me "we're going for a walk." She brought me to the other building across the street, which is another UN building and I ended up just standing there to the side awkwardly as she introduced me to a million people that she knew (She worked there originally). It was amazing to see it. 

Actually, I really do admire her. She's quick, efficient, does good work on time and even in high-stress situations, she maintains her chill. She also gave me good advice. When things are high stress; leave and go out for a walk. It's a good way to relax and calm down. She's a smart lady. 

When I got back, it was just about time to head out, so I left the office, headed back home, ate a little bit (Honestly, my dinner was chips, don't judge me). I walked around with a friend at the market afterwards and we both kind of hung out and enjoyed.

 After relaxing a bit, I headed out to go to the Delegate's lounge. 

At the market

It was as great as ever, but the weather was gorgeous so everyone was outside enjoying themselves on the balcony. It was a really stunning, beautiful view. 

I know that a lot of people now just say "meh" to the delegate's lounge and treat it as though it's something they do every day and like it's not a big deal, but I hope that never happens to me. I want to go to the delegate's lounge every week and still be amazed and awed by the view of the UN, the river and be awed by the presence of some of the world's best and brightest (in terms of politics at least). I want to always feel like it's a big deal - because it is. All around the world, I know that some people would do anything to get where I am now and do what I'm doing now. So I will try not to disappoint them.

Tonight was a pretty good night, I met some interns from Spain, Finland, EU mission delegates and ... almost the whole German Mission delegation actually. It was an interesting and fun night. It was really nice to talk to the German delegates since I love listening to them speak German and I absolutely love their food. I remember back when I lived in France, most of my friends were German as well, so being here and meeting the whole German mission was a bit like France (Ironic I know). It was great though. I met some really nice people and enjoyed.

I found out that they are extremely overworked. They told me that they would be going into work... On a Saturday. Because they had to sit in and take notes about the Fifth committee. Also the German mission has their own building and restaurant (But not a permanent spot on the security council [?] I won't comment further on this, just pointing it out). They were all really nice to me and I got to practice my (limited and almost non-existent) German on them! I don't think they were too impressed but I definitely had fun talking to them.

All in all, a very good night, I left a while before the lounge closed up and went home to relax. I have a tour tomorrow morning of SoHo, Chinatown and Little Italy so sleep is of the utmost importance!

On a side note, I know my last few posts have been lacking a bit on photos, I will try my best to make up for that!

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

It's hump day! Woo! Means that I don't have to do too much today, just sit around and do some work. Today I was tasked with the job of looking through GA and Security Council resolutions. Woo, so much fun (Actually it was cool to learn more about the subject). 

At lunch, I decided to go out and look at what was going on! 

Turns out every Wednesday, on 47th, there is a market that goes on there. The market has fresh food, baked goods, drinks, pretty much everything a good market should have. I went over with a friend and we walked around to check stuff out. It was actually quite nice. 

Afterwards, I headed back to my cubicle, watered the plant there (It was dying but now I'm trying to bring it back to life!) and did some more work. We had a meeting afterwards where we were trying to figure out the different responsibilities of different departments and who has "accountability" to who.

The Market :)

It was so confusing. My god, I don't think I've ever walked out of a meeting even more confused than I went in. I thought I had a general idea of what each department, for example, DPKO, DFS, UNICEF and OIOS were in charge of... But I guess that's not the case. There's a lot of cross accountability and some things that just fall into different categories. It's a bit complicated.

It was, in general, a pretty relaxed day. I mean my boss, the special coordinator, was in today so everyone sounded like they were high stress and tired. There was a lot to be done. 

It was nice afterwards, I meet up with two of my friends to go grab some dinner at place called Dee Daa. We headed out for Thai food at a nearby restaurant... But unfortunately... they ran out of pad thai. Literally their signature dish. I could not believe it so I grabbed their "drunken noodles" instead. It was okay, not anything great and only a little bit spicy, and I realized it was a fast food take out place. The guys were super nice though, they were rocking out to hard hip hop music and they gave us two extra servings of spring rolls so it was a nice time to visit. 

We sat and talked for a while, which was really nice considering the fact that it was so hard to meet up sometimes with our schedules.

Afterwards, I headed home and just relaxed for a while. All in all a good day. 

Dinner with Friends!